Post for clothes-lines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN CHESNUT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

POST FOR CLOTHES-LINES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,818, dated October 19, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN OI-IESNUT, of the city and county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Clothes-Post; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists in arranging a clothes post to slide between brackets attacheol to a board, which may be secured to the wall or fence of the yard or garden selected for drying clothes. The post is furnished with inclined teeth on one side, so as to be retained at any desired altitude by a pawl hung to the board, and in the brackets, as well as in the post near its lower end, are rollers, which render the raising and lowering of the posts a matter of perfect ease. The whole arrangement, which is hereinafter fully described, is designed for the purpose of hanging clothes to dry in the conned yards and gardens of city houses, where the apparatus may be used, without the clothes or clothes line presenting any inconvenient obstruction to persons passing backward and forward.

In order to enable others to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

On reference to the drawing, which forms a part of this specification; Figure l, is a front view of my improved, adjustable clothes post. Fig. 2, a side view of the same. Fig. 3, a section on the line l, 2 (Fig. l). Fig. 4, a transverse section, on the line 3, 4: (Fig. l).

A is a board to be secured to the wall, railing or other fence of the yard or garden selected for drying the clothes.

B is the post, to the top of which one of the ends of the clothes line is attached, and this post is arranged to slide between the lower brackets a and a', and upper brackets o and b', both pairs of brackets being permanently attached to the board A. To each of the opposite brackets a and a is hung a pulley o, that of one bracket being arranged to bear on one side, and that of the other bracket on the opposite side of the post, so that any lateral strain imparted to the post, may be received by the rollers and undue friction avoided. The upper end of the post is guided laterally by the bracket-s b and b, between which a roller e is hung loose, the post bearing against this roller, when the tension of the clothes line tends to force it outward from the board. In the back and near the lower end of the post, is hung a roller m, which bears against the face of the board A. On one edgeof the post are a series of inclined teeth, adapted to receive the point of the pawl h, which is hung loosely to a pin attached to the board A. Two knobs z', i, or other suitable attachments are secured to the front of the post, so as to afford facilities for raising the same to the desired altitude.

One of the above described devices is attached to the wall or fence on one side, and another to that on the opposite side of the yard or garden, selected for drying clothes, and a line attached to and suspended between them.

hen the clothes have been attached to the line, the posts are raised to the desired height by means of the attachments i, z', when the pawl, dropping into one of the angular spaces between two of the teeth, retains the post, the line and the clothes Vat the height, to which they have been elevated. When the clothes have been sufficiently dried, the catches h are thrown back from the teeth of both posts, and the latter allowed to fall to their original position. The clothes may then be readily removed, and others placed on the line and elevated as before. It will now be apparent, that the line with its weight of clothes, will have a tendency to pull the upper end of the post outward, and to press the lower end inward. This, but for the roller c between the brackets above, and the roller m hung in the post below, would tend to render the raising and lowering of the posts difficult through undue friction, from which it is relieved by the above mentioned rollers.

It will now be seen without further descript-ion, that my adjustable clothes posts afford every convenience for xing the clothes to the line, and for elevating the whole a sufhcient height to leave the yard or garden unobstructed, and that they thus become useful instruments in cities, Where the parts are combined and arranged substan- 10 yards are incouveniently small, and the fatially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

cilities for drying clothes feW. In testimony whereof, I have signed my I claim and desire to secure by Letters name to this specification before tWo sub- 5 Patentscrbing Witnesses.

The post B With its row of inclined'teeth BENJ. CHESNUT. and its roller m and pawl h, the brackets b Vitnesses: and b With their roller e, and the brackets HENRY HoWsON,

a and a with their rollers, when the several HENRY ODIOVIRE. 

